Thank you God.

Thank you God for a healthy grandson.
Thank you God for watching over my little girl and bringing this joy to her life and our lives.

Thank you God for giving her the strength and love it will take to be a good mother.

Thank you God for a son-in-law who loves my daughter and will take good care of his family.

Great DAY!

Beautiful Mom and Son moment.
Proud Father and Son moment

Proud Grandma, Mom, and Son moment.

Proud Grandma and Grandson Moment.

And where was the proud grandpa and grandson moment pic? It became another victim in a long list of victims of the bray curse! That's right, the bray curse. I hope it is something that Brayden never inherits. I have been healthy all year, not even a cough or a sniffle until two days ago. And then it struck like a vengeance on the night we got the call of Brayden's impending birth. Determined not to miss the event altogether, I suited up in a surgical mask and gloves to watch at a relatively safe distance one of the most blessed events in my life.

20.5"
8.66 lbs.

Already curious about his surroundings.

Pretty in Pink!

We took a trip to Walmart last night, another distraction, and Tabitha bought this cute little dress for Candy. Candy looks so cute and so far she has not tried to take it off or bite at it. I think she is a miss priss at heart.

A Day with Tabitha

I spent Monday with Tabitha. I don't know who I was trying to distract, her or me. She is due any day now and we are all holding our breath in anticipation. So I decided to spend Monday with Tabitha and we would play with electronic scrapbooking and visit. After we played on the computer a while we watched a movie together. I really enjoyed our day together. I don't know how distracted we were because the first part of the day we spent admiring the nursery, the baby stuff, and her big belly (at least I liked the big belly). Here are a few pics.


Tabitha demonstrates how to put on socks when you can't reach your feet. What will they think of next and why didn't they have this contraption when I was pregnant?

Big belly and beautiful

Troy has been after me lately because I have neglected posting to our blog. I have been thinking lately of all the major things that have happened in our lives over the past 10 years and things don't seem to be slowing down much which is good it keeps life interesting. On some of these years it was hard to pick just one thing, but here goes.

2008

Brody was born

2007

Sean & Tabitha got married

2006

Adam & Justine got married

2005
Alex graduated High School

2004

Adam & Justine graduated High School

A decade to remember part 2

2003

Troy took me to Niagra Falls

2002

Our last family vacation together

We toured Canada: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, & Prince Edward Island

2001

Tabitha graduated High School
2000
Tabitha was voted prom princess

1999
Tabitha was in Homecoming

More bird watching while we wait

No news from Tabitha, so we decided we would go for a walk on the lake. We went to our favorite birdwatching trail and did get some pics of a few new birds (see below).

For Tabitha: "The bluebird of Happiness"

Sialia sialis

Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)

Heron in Flight

Semester Begins!

Three days into the semester and I am already behind. How does this happen every semester? I am teaching genetics, biogeography, and intro to biology (non-majors). I know it doesn't sound like much but the genetics class comes with two 3-hour labs each week and that doesn't include setting up the labs for the 40 students I have in this class. Also, this is my first semester to teach biogeography, so I have to prepare my lessons from scratch and try to stay ahead of the students. Needless to say it can be stressful and there is little time for anything else. But then your doctor puts it like this. . . . .

I think I will take the one hour daily exercise! I am going to force myself to leave the office for at least one hour a day to do some exercising or just to get away for some meditation time. Debbie will be up at school on Tuesday and Thursday so (weather permitting) we can walk for an hour together. A little exercise wouldn't hurt her either.

Baby Shower at North Bryant

Saturday our church family at North Bryant Baptist Church gave Tabitha a baby shower. We had a great time and are very thankful for all those who participated. We started out with some games. Below is a picture of Natalie and Abby as we played the diaper hanging game.

Marla and Abby make punch

The gifts

More gifts

The cake

Thanks again to all those who participated and helped us celebrate the coming of our grandson. I can't wait til he gets here!

Two new birds spotted

Shown above and below is a second type of sparrow. The Savannah Sparrow that I already posted had the bit of yellow on its face, but this sparrow, a Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina), has a black stripe through its eye, a white stripe above its eye, and the top of its head is a rust color.

Isn't this a neat bird? I hung two suet blocks out hoping to attract some different birds and it did. This White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) came for a visit and a meal. What an acrobat!

More clothes for Candy

Dog in the hood. "Don't I have that Doberman look, grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

"This is getting ridiculous; Tabitha better hurry up and have that grandbaby before she starts putting me in diapers and feeding me strained carrots."

"I hope my friends don't see this. Yuk!"

Says it all!

" I am ready for a jog."

Tabitha really started something with the dog outfits. Candy will soon have a whole wardrobe. Thankfully, there are no matching shoes or purses to buy.